Improvement in machines for setting tobacco-plants



Patented April 16, 1.8718.

NINVENTOR:

ATTORNEYS.

MPEiERs, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHSNGT'ONKD c.

UNITED SrA'rEs FRANCIS M. MEYER, OF SHANNONDALE, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR SETTING TOBACCO-PLANTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.

202,452, dated April 16, 1878; application filed January 29, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS M. MEYER, of Shannondale, in the county of Chariton and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machine for Setting Tobacco-Plants, of which the following is a specification Figure 1 isa side view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a view of the same, turned one quarter around, and partly in section through the line 00 m, Fig. 1, to show the construction.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The object of this invention is to furnish an improved machine for setting tobaccoplants, which shall be so constructed as to enable the plants to be set properly and rapidly, and without being injured, and which shall be simple in construction and convenient in use.

The invention consists in the combination of the bar, provided with the scraper and the prongs and stop-plates, the slide, provided with the point, the rammer, provided with the curved slot, and the lever, provided with the enlarged pearshaped slot, with each other, as hereinafter fully described.

A is the main bar of the machine, to the upper end of which is attached a handle, a and upon one side of which is placed a sliding-bar, B. To the upper end of the slide B is attached a handle, I). The slide B is kept in place upon the bar A by screws or bolts a attached to the bar A, and which pass through longitudinal slots b in the slide B, so as to limit its movements.

.To the lower end of the slide B is attached a point, b which has a notch formed in its end, and is slightly curved, to keep it from slipping off the roots of the plants while forcingthem into the ground.

To the lower end of the bar A is attached a scraper, a through which the point b moves to scrape off any soil that may adhere to the said point, and thus keep it in good work ing condition. To the opposite edges of the lower end of the barA are attached prongs a, which are curved outward and downward, and have stop-plates a attached to them to limit the depth to which they enter the ground.

The prongs a are designed to hold the device steady while being used.

O is the rammer, the lower end of which is faced with metal to prevent wear. The upper end of the rammer O is pivoted to the end of a lever, D, which is pivoted to and between two lugs, a, formed upon the bar A.

The lever D passes through longitudinal slots in the slide B and bar A, and has a slot, cl, formed in it to receive a pin attached to the slide B. The slot cl is enlarged into pear shape, as shown in Fig. 2, to allow the lever D to have sufficient play to accommodate itself to the movements of the rammer O.

The rammer O has a curved slot, 0, formed in its middle part, to receive the pin by which it is pivoted to and between the lugs a formed upon the side of the bar A.

The lugs a a serve as guides to keep the slide B and the rammer O in place when in US6- By this construction, as the slide B moves down the rammer 0 will be drawn up, and as the slide B is drawn up the rammer G will be forced down, pressing the soil around the root and stem of the plant, the slot 0 and the enlargement of slot at causing the lower end of the said rammer O to move in a curved line, so that its action upon the soil will be very similar to that of the thumb in handplanting.

- The upward movement of the slide B, and with it the downward movement of the rammer 0, may be limited by a stop, a, attached to the upper part of the bar A.

In using the machine, the plants are dropped along the row, with their roots in the places where the said plants are to be set. The machine is placed upon the ground with the point b of the slide B upon the roots of the plant to be set; the slide B is then pushed downward until the roots,have been forced into the ground to the desired depth, and the said slide is then drawn upward with a quick movement, which forces the rammer 0 down, pressing the soil snugly around the stem and roots of the plants.

With this construction the device will plant long, short, large, small, straight, and crooked plants with equal facility.

Having thus described myinvention,Ic1aim the enlarged pear-shaped slot 01', with each as new and desire to secure by Letters Patother, substantially as herein shown and deentscribed.

The combination of the bar A, provided with the scraper a and the prongs and stop- FRANCIS MARION MEYER plates a a the slide B, provided with the Witnesses: point b the rammer 0, provided with the ERASTUS BUTLER, curved slot 0', and the lever D, provided with BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MEYER. 

